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Local Government, Planning & Agriculture Policy

Local government, business groups, and economic developers have begun to consider the potential value that agricultural resources can bring to a community. Local and regional planning and policy can play a major role in the capacity to develop strong local food systems by reducing zoning and policy barriers and providing tools to support communities in their endeavors.

Other Planning Related Resources

Recommended Professional Resources: Many leading local government and small business development organizations have conducted their own research into the impacts and strategies of local food system development.

ATTRA: The National Center for Appropriate Technology’s Sustainable Agriculture division maintains a web resource center for urban agriculture. In July 2016, they published Agrihoods: Development Supported Agriculture, which explores examples of agrihoods around the country and their development premise and challenges. Access the publication here.

Croatan Institute: Croatan Institute, an independent institute for advanced social and environmental research and engagement based in Durham, researches a variety of topics including local food economies. Their July 2016 publication explores place-based impact investing in Southern rural value chains: access the publication here.

Engaging Community Planners and Local Elected Officials with Local Food Systems Producers to Integrate Local Food Systems into Community Plans and Policies, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Bulletins.

Growing Local Food Systems: A case study series on the role of local governments Case study series developed by Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems and Internatiolal City/County Management Association showcases local government innovation in food system development. Includes case studies on Catawba County, NC; Decatur, GA; Tomshaw, Maine; Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Growing Food Connections
A USDA NIFA funded project led by University of Buffalo focused on The enhancing “community food security while ensuring sustainable and economically viable agriculture and food production. This requires, in part, removing public policy barriers and deploying innovative public policy tools by building capacity of local governments.”

Policy Guide on Community and Regional Food Planning
Document of the American Planning Association, for planners, that provides, first, facts and trends about how the food system impacts localities and regions, and second, organization policies providing concrete ways in which food issues may be incorporated into current planning activities, providing for more systematic and comprehensive community and regional food planning. 2007.

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About Extension

NC State Extension is the largest outreach program at NC State University.
Based in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, we reach millions of
North Carolina citizens each year through local centers in the state's 100 counties
and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Learn MoreAbout NC State Extension

About Local Food

North Carolina Cooperative Extension and many organizations and stakeholders are working with our communities on development and expansion of local food systems across the state. This Local Food web portal has been developed by North Carolina Cooperative Extension to provide local food systems resources and timely information to all residents and businesses across the state. The goal of the website is to provide information and link to resources from Cooperative Extension as well as from other NC organizations and state partners working on local food programming. It is a dynamic portal and is intended to include new resources as they are developed over time.

To assist you in finding your way around this portal, we have developed a video walk through of the Local Food web portal. The organizational structure for this web portal is available on the ‘Site Map‘ page. If you enter the site through one of the “Your Role in the Food System” links, you will be directed to aspects of the overall site structure relevant to that role. Additionally, you may use the Search tool on each page to search the portal or other N.C. Cooperative Extension portals for the information you are seeking.

If you have questions or comments, or if your organization has research-based North Carolina local food systems resources that you would like us to consider linking to from this portal, please contact Hannah Dankbar at hannah_dankbar@ncsu.edu. Also, please connect if you have potential news items about local foods of interest at a regional or state level.

Support for development and curation of this web portal is provided in part by NC Growing Together, a Center for Environmental Farming Systems-led initiative, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, grant #2012-68004-20363.

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension, which staffs local offices in all 100 counties and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.